Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.), serving as the ranking member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, has joined forces with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and a coalition of 25 fellow senators to unveil the Secure the Border Act, a legislative initiative aimed at addressing the ongoing immigration and border security challenges faced by the United States. This bill serves as the Senate’s counterpart to the House of Representatives’ H.R. 2.
The Secure the Border Act encompasses a multifaceted approach to tackling the complex issues surrounding immigration at the southern border. The key provisions of the legislation include resuming the construction of the border wall, enhancing asylum standards, criminalizing visa overstays, bolstering Border Patrol agent numbers, defunding non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that use taxpayer funds for migrant resettlement within the United States, and discontinuing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s use of the CBP One app in assisting illegal migrants.
Senator Britt expressed her concerns regarding the escalating situation at the southern border, stating, “The numbers at the southern border continue to shatter records, but President Biden still refuses to even acknowledge the problem. Vulnerable children, women, and men are dying every day as a result, and hardworking families and communities in every corner of America are suffering. We need to enact substantive solutions that will end this national security and humanitarian crisis, not let the Biden Administration continue to facilitate it. I won’t stop fighting to secure the border, combat the flood of fentanyl, support our tremendous law enforcement officers, and cut off the incentives that encourage more people to break the law.”
Senator Cruz echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the urgency of the situation: “Under Joe Biden, we have a wide-open southern border. The Biden Border Crisis has created the largest illegal immigration crisis in our nation’s history. Biden’s open borders are an invitation for the cartels to brutalize children, to assault women, to overrun our communities with illegal aliens, and to flood this country with narcotics and fentanyl that kill over 100,000 people per year. This bill would stop the Biden Border Crisis dead in its tracks by building the wall, ratcheting up asylum standards, increasing the number of Border Patrol Agents, and implementing effective border security policies.”
In addition to Senators Britt and Cruz, the roster of co-sponsors for the Secure the Border Act includes Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.Dak.), Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Hoeven (R-N.Dak.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.Dak.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
The Secure the Border Act proposes a comprehensive array of measures designed to address the immigration crisis, including:
– **Resuming Border Wall Construction:** Mandating the Department of Homeland Security to recommence construction of the border wall.
– **Increasing Border Patrol Agents:** Expanding the number of Border Patrol agents to enhance border security.
– **Tightening Asylum Standards:** Restricting asylum to only those who present at official ports of entry and requiring proof of eligibility for asylum claims.
– **Criminalizing Visa Overstays:** Making visa overstays a misdemeanor for the first offense, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine, and a felony for the second offense, punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to two years of imprisonment.
– **NGO Funding Restrictions:** Preventing NGOs from using tax dollars to transport or house illegal aliens and provide them with legal representation.
– **CBP One App Termination:** Ending the use of the CBP One app by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to assist illegal migrants.
– **E-Verify Requirement:** Mandating employers to use the E-Verify system.
– **Criminal History Databases:** Ensuring that CBP has access to criminal history databases of all countries of origin and transit to assess the backgrounds of illegal aliens encountered at the southern border.
The Secure the Border Act represents a significant bipartisan effort to address the ongoing immigration crisis and national security concerns at the southern border, with proponents emphasizing the importance of enacting substantial solutions to protect American communities and uphold the rule of law.
The full text of the Secure the Border Act is available here.
